The Sovereignty and Goodness of God

Mary Rowlandson

Analysis of Major Characters

Important Quotations Explained

Themes

The Blurred Line Between Civilization and Savagery

Even though Rowlandson’s forced journey from civilization into the
wilderness culminates in a triumphant return to civilization, her once-clear
conception of what is and is not “civilized” undergoes a radical and
permanent shift. Initially, Rowlandson views civilization as that which is
not savage or not wilderness, and at times she implies that the Indians’
savagery is actually connected to the natural world around them. The Indians
eat coarse food such as horse meat and bear, they live in wigwams, and they
spend their days traveling through forests and swamps. As a result, she
speculates, they are violent savages. Later, however, similarities between
the Indians and the settlers become more apparent. Wettimore is as vain as a
rich white woman, “praying Indians” claim to have converted to Christianity,
and Indians sometimes wear the colonists’ clothing. Rowlandson also
recognizes her own capacity for uncivilized behavior. She finds herself
eating and enjoying the Indians’ food, and at times she behaves with a
callousness comparable to that of her captors. No longer are civilization
and savagery so distinct. Rowlandson’s initial vision of the world as a
place defined by opposites (good and evil, civilization and savagery,
Puritans and Indians) eventually gives way to a worldview that contains more
ambiguity.

Life Is Uncertain

The attack on Lancaster and Rowlandson’s subsequent captivity teach
Rowlandson that life is short and nothing is certain. All of the seeming
stability of life, including material possessions, can disappear without
warning, even during a single day. Rowlandson’s descriptions of her time
with the Indians reinforce this lesson: nothing, during her captivity, is
consistent. One day, her captors treat her well, while the next day they
give her no food or reprimand her without reason. One day, they tell her
she’ll soon be sold to her husband; the next day, she is forced to travel
farther into the wilderness. In her captive state, Rowlandson can take
nothing for granted. She does not even know for sure if she’ll survive the
experience.

The Centrality of God’s Will

As a Puritan, Rowlandson believes that God’s grace and providence
shape the events of the world. She and other Puritans also believe that God
arranges things for a purpose. Throughout her narrative, Rowlandson argues
that humans have no choice but to accept God’s will and attempt to make
sense of it. Rowlandson’s attempt to understand involves drawing parallels
between her own situation and biblical verses. She compares herself to Job,
to the Israelites, and to Daniel in the lion’s den, among others. Like these
biblical figures, she is at the mercy of God’s will and grace. Everything in
her narrative, she believes, happens for a reason, and the reason British
troops do not defeat the Indians sooner is that the Puritans have not yet
learned their lesson. They are not humble and pious enough for the reward of
victory.

The Fear of the New World

In her narrative, Rowlandson explores the fearful hesitation white
settlers feel in the face of new environments and experiences. Rowlandson,
like other Puritans, is unsure how far the colonists should forge into the
wilds. Lancaster is a frontier settlement, and the attack serves as a sign
that perhaps the settlers are pushing too far west, too far from their
established towns. However, Rowlandson goes still farther inland when she is
taken captive, and her experience brings her even further from what she
knows. She and other captives, such as Robert Pepper, are able to amass
practical knowledge about the natural world during their time with the
Indians. Rowlandson learns to gather food for herself and to tolerate meats
that would formerly have repulsed her. Though this practical knowledge is
positive, it also brings anxiety and guilt because Rowlandson fears leaving
“civilization” behind.

Motifs

The Threatening Landscape

The threatening wilderness through which Rowlandson moves
characterizes the dangers and threats of the New World as a whole.
Rowlandson’s journey begins with an uphill trek, which suggests the
difficulties to come. From the summit, Rowlandson gets the last glimpse of
civilization she’ll have for some time. The next day, the travelers set off
down a steep hill, and Rowlandson and her daughter tumble off their horse:
their descent into the hell of the wilderness has begun. The landscape grows
increasingly bleak, and Rowlandson crosses desolate swamps, dark thickets,
and icy streams. As she travels, Rowlandson sees farmlands gone to
waste and slaughtered farm animals, and she fears the triumph
of the Indians and the dark, unknown wilderness over the order and reason of
civilization.

Christian Imagery and the Bible

Rowlandson frequently quotes the Bible and alludes to biblical tales,
which emphasizes her own faith, her own knowledge of the scriptures, and
their centrality in her life. She also uses the Bible to reinforce her
descriptions of a world of dichotomies: punishment and retribution, darkness
and light, and evil and good. By casting the Indians as children of the
devil, Rowlandson depicts them as a large, permanent enemy. That is, the
Indians are not just the enemy of the colonists in this war, in a specific
time and a place, but rather represent the enemies of Christianity,
goodness, and light throughout all time. By alluding to the Bible so
frequently, Rowlandson turns her own story into an epic and allegorical tale
that is broader than the story of one woman’s captivity.

Symbols

The Attack on Lancaster

The attack on Lancaster, described as a fiery inferno, represents
God’s wrath and the strife and chaos of King Philip’s War as a whole. When
Rowlandson describes the start of the attack, she writes that “several
houses were burning, and the smoke ascending to heaven.” This image of smoke
rising to heaven suggests ritual sacrifice and emphasizes that this attack
has religious meaning and is more than just a random or political attack.

Robert Pepper’s Oak Leaves

The oak leaves, which Robert Pepper helps Rowlandson use to heal her
wound, suggest the positive potential of nature. In addition to being a
dangerous temptation, the natural world can also be a means of curing a
person’s ills. One must be taught, however, how to use nature’s bounty, and
God must be willing to provide assistance as well. That the natural world
proves to be a source of healing is also a threat to Rowlandson, since she
has always linked the wilderness with savagery, not civilization. These
healing leaves help Rowlandson develop a different, more ambiguous
perspective on the world.

The Indians’ Clothing

The Indians Rowlandson encounters often dress in the colonists’
clothes. Sometimes this is a sign that the Indians are converts to
Christianity, but at other times it signifies their savagery, since the
clothes are from enemies they have killed and towns they have ransacked. The
Indian in British clothes, then, suggests the unreliability of outward
appearances. Though the Indians may look civilized, Rowlandson
suspects—though she is not certain—that they are still savages underneath.